One who yearns to be a successful fiction writer might well be asked the question, “Do you have the talent to be a fiction writer,” or “Do you have the skill to be a fiction writer?” Surely, these questions are important, but I feel a better question might be, “Do you have the temperament to be a fiction writer?” I feel this is a better question because writers are different from other people. I don’t mean that writers are better than others or worse; simply different.

If you yearn to be a fiction writer, your yearning may not be realized because you may not have the necessary temperament. At this point you might ask, “What makes you think you have the right to address that question?” My answer is, “I have the right because I’ve written and published about 200 pieces of fiction in www.Smashword.com. I’m an established writer, and as such, have come to understand the mind of a fiction writer and the writer’s temperament.

I recognize that not all writers are the same. This is a fortuitous thing for you because, after I have given the qualities by which you may judge for yourself whether you are a writer, you may not agree with the decision I propose. At that point, if my decision is negative, you’ll have the right to strive for success as a writer anyway! Eventually, you may even decide to write an article on the same subject that this one!

According to my testing plan, I give you 32 questions below. You need to answer yes or no to each. All yes answers except two, will be worth one point. One question will have a value of 20 points and another, 10 points. The number of points you collect will allow you to estimate your chances for success as a fiction writer from a table I present at the end of this article. Any total below 40 will indicate your chances are poor; any total at or above 40 will indicate your chances are from fair to excellent depending upon how much above 40 you score. A score of 60 is highest and indicates an excellent chance for success.

Here are the questions: (The number within parentheses indicates the point value of each question.)

The Test

1. Do you have a good foundation in English grammar? (Do you understand parts of speech, the six persons who use them, the tenses, the intricacies of verbs, etc.) (20)

2. Do you have an intense love for words? Do you have a keen awareness of how you write, and speak them? Do you enjoy learning about them, their origins, their spellings, their fine meanings? Do you play with them, taking them apart, and putting them back together? Do you realize that the way you use words can have life-changing affects on others?) (10)

3. Have you yearned to write fiction since you were a child? (1)

4. Do you have a vocabulary that is probably significantly larger than average? (In order to avoid boredom, your writing requires the use of suitable synonyms.) (1)

5. At times, when you see something another person has written, or said, you wish you had written or said it first? (1)

6. When you see a drama on TV or in a theater, do you make guesses as to what will happen? (1)

7. Have you often guessed the ending of a story you were reading or viewing? (1)

8. Have you ever felt that you could have written a better ending to a story than what the author had provided? (1)

9. In reading or watching a dramatic presentation, have you wondered what was the author’s purpose in presenting certain incidences or scenes? (1)

10. Do you have an easy time coming up with ideas for stories? (Does your imagination allow you to run riot outside the box of ordinary logical thinking?) (1)

11. Do you desire to make statements about certain aspects of life by presenting them in stories? (1)

12. When writing stories, does time pass quickly, and are you sometimes surprised how much time has elapsed while you began writing? (1)

13. Do you feel certain you are a good writer, or, at least have the potential for being so? (1)

14. Are you pleased when someone reads a story you’ve written, and wonder what the reader’s reaction was? (1)

15. In writing, do you have a desire to write about events in your own life? (1)

16. Do you have a good appreciation for emotions that people might be having even though you may not have experienced them yourself? (1)

17. Do you enjoy reading fiction, but you prefer writing to reading? (1)

18. When you’re writing, do you, very much, dislike being interrupted? (1)

19. Often, when reading your own stories, do you see opportunities for improvements and are compelled to make changes in them promptly? (1)

20. When you speak to others, do you listen to yourself and try to be grammatically correct and clear in whatever you’re saying? (1)

21. Do poor expressions of thoughts and ideas from others irritate you? (1)

22. Do you have a good sense of rhythm in singing, playing an instrument, and/or dancing? (Good writing can be described as poetry without limitations.) (1)

23. Do your stories present a conflict that is easily understood and does it become resolved? (1)

24. Do you play a musical instrument, or, if not, can you carry a tune without difficulty? (1)

25. In writing, do you often spend a great deal of time choosing a word, or developing the wording of a thought? (1)

26. Do you like puns, reading them and/or creating them? (1)

27. Do you enjoy looking up the origin of words? (1)

28. Do you usually look up the meanings of words if you don’t know them? (1)

29. Do you often go to sleep thinking about or planning the development of a story you’re working on? (1)

30. When you have finished a story, do you have a good ability to predict its success? (1)

31. Do you take every opportunity you ethically can, to promote your stories? (1)

32. Do you have a very curious nature? (Do you feel as Robert Louis Stevenson expressed it in “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” (1)

At this point, make final decisions concerning how many points you’ve garnered. Then look up your chances for being a successful fiction writer in the table that follows.

Chances for Success in Fiction Writing

Number of Points Chances for Success

<40 Poor

40-44 Fair

45-49 Good

50-54 Very Good

55-60 Excellent

You may have noticed that a good foundation in English grammar is fundamental in becoming successful as a fiction writer, and so is a profound love of words.

Do You Have The Temperament To Be A Fiction Writer?

Do you have the temperament to be a successful fiction writer? This is a non-fiction article that asks readers if they have the temperament to be successful fiction writers. A test is presented with a table at the end that predicts the reader's chances of being successful. The author is a fiction writer of over 200 fiction pieces of various Lengths.